We have launched!!

Founded by awarding winning, Chicago-based designers Joe Carpita and Craig Stover, Parallel Goods creates good design that is accessible to consumer 3D printing. Parallel Goods offers new, original designs available to print on customer’s own desktop 3D printers.

“With the increased availability of consumer desktop 3D printers, prices continue to get lower and more approachable,” said co-founder Joe Carpita. “We’re already starting to see them in more homes. And while there’s a lot of the same toys and tchotchkes available on a lot of free platforms, we noticed a distinct lack of good design, and good design that also prints reliably. This is why we started Parallel Goods.”

The Parallel Goods experience is designed to be as simple as the designs themselves: Just print, assemble and enjoy. It provides customers with the digital design files and step-by-step instructions for printing and assembly, and if necessary, sources for any needed hardware (like screws or lumber) from common stores such as Home Depot and Amazon.

“We both have backgrounds in industrial design, coupled with entrepreneurial spirits,” said Craig Stover, co-founder and lead designer of Parallel Goods, “The limitations and affordances of 3D printing on low-cost printers was part of our design constraints, and a motivation to launch our company. We went through numerous iterations to make sure all our designs can be easily printed on the most basic of 3D printers, but are still useful and beautiful.”

The first Parallel Goods design collection is centered around the desktop, with the vision of giving customers a quick and simple way to create a beautiful workspace. The collection includes a sawhorse bracket that lets customers easily make a desk of their own, a set of striking self-watering planters, and finally a modular organizer which uses push-pins to mount to the wall.

“We also believe in making good design accessible by making it affordable,” added Carpita, “ so we priced our designs to cost as little as buying an app.”

In July 2015, Parallel Goods released their Self-Watering Planter design for free on Thingiverse, the popular website dedicated to the sharing of user-created digital design files. Since releasing this design, it has seen over 6000 user downloads, and was featured on the Thingiverse homepage in July and August. See the Self-Watering Planter (small) on thingiverse here.

Parallel Goods’ Desk Collection is available for purchase and download here.